About

Xavier Cortada, "Diatom Fountain, " 16' x 8' x 8' hand-carved, hand-painted ceramic and mosaic on concrete, 2017. (Smathers Plaza | Little Havana, Miami-Dade Housing Authority)

XAVIER CORTADA'S PUBLIC ART

Over the past three decades, Cortada has created art across six continents including more than one hundred and fifty (150) public artworks and dozens of collaborative murals and socially engaged projects. Cortada’s work aims to address our relationship to place, to each other, and the natural world. He has developed innovative art solutions to public art-making that explore our ability to coexist with nature.

Cortada’s site-specific public art range from free-standing and suspended sculpture, fountains, plazas, ceramic tile murals, mosaics, paintings, and large-scale digital works. His Florida public art commissions include works at Port Everglades, the Frost Art Museum, the Florida Turnpike, Florida Botanical Gardens, Curtis Park, and at ten Miami-Dade Housing Authority sites. 

His most recent public art commissions include five sculptural works at  McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach, FL and an ocean-front metal art installation in  Deerfield Beach, FL.

The first one of the decade was El Manglar and the Miami Mangrove Forest (redux) ceramic flat tile murals in Palmetto Bay. Learn more about Cortada’s ceramic mangrove murals here.

Cortada’s work is in the permanent collections of museums across the nation, such as Peréz Art Museum Miami, the Whatcom Museum, and the Frost Art Museum. In Florida, his works permanently hang at the entrances of the Museum of Florida History, the State of Florida Department of State, the commission chambers of the City of Miami, the Upper Keys Government Center, the Village of Pinecrest and Miami-Dade County Hall.

He has also been selected for juried artist pools for public art programs in Seattle, El Paso, Iowa, Los Angeles, Broward County, and Ocala, FL.

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS

2023   Reverence, Joy, Love | Resilience, Strength, McKee Botanical Garden Vero Beach, FL

2023  Shoal, Deerfield Beach Promenade, Deerfield Beach, FL

2021   Liberty Square: Native Flora, Liberty Square, Miami Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, FL

2021   Liberty Square: Grounded, Liberty Square, Miami, FL

2021    Flower Force, Village of Palmetto Bay Art in Public Places, Palmetto Bay, FL

2020    Heron and Ibises, Village Hall, Village of Palmetto Bay, FL

2020    El Manglar and Miami Mangrove Forest (redux), Palmetto Bay Art in Public Places, Palmetto Bay, FL

2019    Pinecrest Mangrove Forest, Pinecrest Gardens, Pinecrest, FL

2019    A Pelican’s Path, Fine Plaza, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2018    Four Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, University of Miami Miami Business School, Coral Gables, FL

2018    Marcia Gardens Mangroves, Marcia Gardens, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2018    Diatom Court, Pinecrest Gardens, Pinecrest, FL

2017    Longitudinal Installation, Pinecrest Gardens, Pinecrest, FL

2017    Diatom Fountain, Smathers Plaza, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2016    Diatom Mural, Jack Orr Plaza, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2016    Sunburst Woodstorks, Stirrup Plaza 2, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2015    (Rededication/Replica of 1999 mosaic:) Commemorating 100 Years of Juvenile Justice, Miami-Dade Children’s Courthouse, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, FL

2015    Just Below the Surface: 1915 (Founding of Miami Beach), Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research, Miami Beach, FL

2014    Wading Birds and Heron, Stirrup Plaza 1, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2014    Las Libelulas, Dragonflies on Blue, and Los Caballitos del Diablo, Pineiro Apartments, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2014    Julia’s Blossoms, Flor, Orange Blossoms, and 500, Collins Park Apartments, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2014    Pelican Path, Port Everglades Terminal 4, Broward County Public Art and Design Program, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2013    Starfish Shuffle: Digital Tapestry, Current, Sandbar, Sand, Seashore, Seagrass 1, Seagrass 2, Port Everglades Terminal 2, Broward County Public Art and Design Program, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2013    Flight of the Ibis, University of Miami Activities Center, Coral Gables, FL

2013    Mangrove Cove, Seedlings, Mangroves (On Blue), Raices, Entangled, and Roots, Dante Fascell Apartments, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2013    Sawfish, Horseshoe Crab March, Sea Star Light, Sea Stars, Night Swimming, and Octopus, South Miami Plaza, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2013    Flores de Cocuyos, Baile de las Mariposas, and Odonata, Joe Moretti Apartments, Miami-Dade Housing Authority, Miami, FL

2012    Splash!, Miami Gardens Aquatic Center, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami Gardens, FL

2009    Native Canopy, Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center, Key Largo, FL

2008    Four Elements (at the Frost), Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, State of Florida Art in State Buildings Program, Tallahassee, FL

2008    Plaza Allapattah, Plaza Roja, Plaza Azul, and Plaza Amarilla, Curtis Park, Miami, FL

2007    Conquistadores and Raices, State of Florida Department of State, Tallahassee, FL

2007    18 Mile Stretch, Monroe County Art in Public Places North Key Largo Fire Station, Key Largo, FL

2005   First Encounter: 1566 and The Incorporators: 1896, City of Miami City Hall, Miami, FL

2004   Our Community (is like a Mangrove Forest), Miami-Dade County Hall, Foyer to Commission Chambers, Miami,

2004   Miami Mangrove Forest, metaphoric reforestation of mangrove forest across underpasses of I-95 throughout City of Miami

2003   Dreaming of a World Free of Poverty, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

2003    The Journey & Florida Mangrove, Museum of Natural History, Department of State, Tallahassee, FL

2002   Stepping into the American Dream the official mural of the White House Conference on Minority Homeownership, Washington, D.C.

2001    Convictim, collaborative art mural with the participation of juvenile offenders, Office of the Public Defender, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, Miami, FL

1999    Commemorating 100 Years of Juvenile Justice, Miami-Dade Juvenile Courthouse, Miami, FL (Replicated in new courthouse in 2015, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places)